


Wake Up Call

by Leni



Series: Never Leave You Alone [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Background Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Background Rumbelle, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:38:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11053398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: “I think it’s better if I talk, dearie. You seem to forget that you’re at a disadvantage."





	Wake Up Call

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stillsearching47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillsearching47/gifts).



> @still-searching asked: Wake Up Call

The familiar surroundings should have been a comfort, but since it was the Golds’ living room and the last thing Zelena remembered was Rumpelstiltskin’s magic striking her, her heartbeat spiked with fear.

The fear turned into terror when she discovered that she couldn’t move.

“Relax,” said Rumpelstiltskin, coming into sight above her. “It will hurt less.”

Had her mouth been allowed any freedom, Zelena would have cursed at him. Instead she had to restrict herself to a glare that promised vengeance for this insult.

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. “Believe it or not, this is for your own good. The option, after all, was to wait until you got impatient with Henry’s refusal to help with your little plan and snatched his heart out. Losing his only other remaining relative would have been a blow I don’t intend my grandson to suffer.” He let the implied threat sink in, and then waved a hand over her, releasing the binding spell.

The power that should have sent him flying fizzed out before it even reached her fingertips.

“Really, dearie.” His lips shaped that hated smirk of his. “That was your chance to deny everything.”

Her eyes fixed on the green pendant that hung from his grasp. Zelena’s arm shot out to grasp it, and she seethed when it vanished in a puff of smoke. “That’s mine!”

“Ah, ah. Talk first, trinkets later.”

“Give it back!”

“Hear me out first. You haven’t done anything that merits losing your magic permanently… yet. I still would prefer that you don’t stalk away for the next few minutes. Deal?”

With no other option, Zelena nodded. “Thief,” she hissed anyway.

“You accuse me?” Rumpelstiltskin gave her an amused glance, taking a seat on the couch before the one where she’d woken up. “Zelena, don’t take me for a fool. My cooperation is key to that little spell you’re cooking up, and if Henry didn’t have such a good chance at convincing me to help, if only for his sake, you would have targeted the Dark One’s dagger instead.”

Zelena thought of denying _that_ , since the surest way to earn the Dark One’s anger was to threaten either his wife or his freedom, but a look at Rumpelstiltskin’s face told her it would be a useless lie. Ever since their first meeting, he had been most annoyingly adept at reading her. At last she crossed her arms over her chest, aware that it was a defensive move but unable to deny herself even than flimsy physical protection. “It’s not like you’re using that power,” she sulked.

His laughter stung.

“I’m not planning to break the rules of magic, no,” he agreed.

“Because you’re a coward!”

His amusement faded, and he rubbed his fingers together in the manner she knew meant deliberation of what spell to hit her with next.

The loss of her ability to speak came as no shock.

“I think it’s better if I talk, dearie. You seem to forget that you’re at a disadvantage, and it would be a waste of patience to have left you alive for this long just to end you now.” Her disbelief must have shown, because an indulgent expression came onto Rumpelstiltskin’s face. “You don’t believe that you ever fooled me, do you? I’m not an idealistic eleven-year-old; I don’t believe that people change out of the goodness in their hearts-” he gave her a pointed glance “- and I know you well enough to doubt you possess such a thing in the first place.”

Zelena glared. Goodness had never gotten her anywhere. She would be good in her new life, after she had changed the past. It would be she who cast the Dark Curse, with her mother’s happy approval. She would be Henry’s mother and do a much better job than Regina ever could have been.

 _Her_ son would not run away to bring the Savior home!

She did not know that her expression had softened until Rumpelstiltskin spoke: “You are actually fond of the boy.” Rumpelstiltskin tilted his head as if considering the notion for the first time. “Well, well. Henry is difficult _not_ to love.”

Zelena wanted to snarl at him for thinking that. Love was weakness, an unacceptable failure. Henry missed his mothers too much. He still loved Regina! While they remained in this timeline, he could only be a tool.

“Listen to me, Zelena, because this will be your first and last warning. Stop lamenting the past. Even if you succeed and change your fate, it will mean nothing but heartbreak in the long run. That kind of magic does not come for free, dearie.”

She met his eye, burning with the need to brag about how she’d figured it out. There was a price, of course; a hefty one. The sacrifice of innocence.

It was a price she was willing to let others pay.

Rumpelstiltskin gazed at her for a long moment, and finally lifted his shoulders. “Then consider this: you’re trading a reality where you’re important to someone for the pipe dream of Cora accepting you.”

They stared at each other, Zelena’s anger boiling and tearing at her at the knowledge that, of the two of them, it was Rumpelstiltskin who had known her mother better. _I hate you. Ihateyouihateyouihateyou!_ Deprived of her magic, it felt like she would explode if she didn’t find an outlet for that fury.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed. “Say your piece, if you must.”

“My mother would love me if she knew how powerful I am!”

That earned her a pitying look. “Henry would welcome you even if I smashed your little pendant. In fact, he already is determined to love you.”

“He’s a foolish kid!”

To her surprise, Rumpelstiltskin nodded. “I blame his mother’s side of the family,” he told her conversationally. “But they had their strengths too, and stubbornness comes to him from all sides.” He shrugged. “If I believed that Henry could be easily swayed, or that he would give up on you at the first proof of your real intentions, we would not be having this conversation. I would just wait until you burned that bridge.”

“What do you mean?”

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head. “You’re truly Cora’s daughter if you can’t appreciate someone’s honest regard. You probably will disdain a chance of happiness that doesn’t meet your standards too - let me guess, ‘love is weakness’?” His grin looked bitter. “However,” he continued, “Henry knew little about Cora, and he thinks of you as Regina’s sister instead.” He smirked at her scowl, but didn’t let her protest that description. “He could have been Regina’s happy ending. Perhaps he can still be yours instead.”

Zelena laughed. Hadn’t she just been thinking of herself and Henry as a family? But it would be perfect, without the shadow of her sister marring it. “I’ve considered it,” she admitted.

Dark eyes studied her for a long beat. “I did my best,” Rumpelstiltskin said, standing to his feet in an obvious end to their interview. “Remember, Zelena. I don’t _want_ Henry to suffer another loss. Consider this your wake up call.”

Zelena opened her mouth to tell him that, if she had her way, Henry would never have suffered at all; but magic wrapped around her and the next thing she knew, she was in her apartment.

Her hand flew to her throat, clutching onto the pendant she found there.

Rumpelstiltskin was a sentimental fool, but at least one could count on him to keep a deal. As long as she had magic, she still had a chance to meet all her goals.

And one day, she thought with a smile, Rumpelstiltskin would thank her for bringing his son back to life.

 

The End  
30/05/17

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! Please leave a comment? :)


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